In the Lane: February 25, 2008

THE WILD, WILD WEST

Am I the only one who thinks the NBA’s wild, wild western conference is looking more and more like the wild, wild, west of the 19th century?

I’m serious.

In 1848, pure gold was discovered at the fork of the American river in the Sacramento valley California. “The Great American Gold Rush” followed.

In 2008, pure gold was discovered at the fork of Beale St. and the FedEx Forum by the LA Lakers who mined 7-footer Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies for a rookie, a pair of draft picks, and some salary cap space.

More nuggets were also discovered in Miami (Shaq) by the Phoenix Suns, in New Jersey (Kidd) by the Dallas Mavericks, and in Seattle (K.Thomas) by San Antonio Just five weeks earlier a much lesser-known auric in Philadelphia (Korver) helped the Utah Jazz resurrect their season.

This 2008 NBA Gold Rush directly affects the Western Conference’s top team, the New Orleans Hornets.

So, the best team in the wild, wild, west responded by getting deeper and more experienced by panning for the gold in Houston (Wells and James). The Hornets gained 6.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, and 1.3 apg in the horse trade that shipped Bobby Jackson and Adam Haluska to the Rockets and Marcus Vinicius to Memphis.

Head coach Byron Scott had threatened for weeks that any of the Hornets reserves were vulnerable to trade after starting the season with back to back inconsistent months of play. The Bees only lost their second-leading bench scorer (7.1 ppg), a seldom-used forward (Vinicius played 13 games), and a rookie who has not made his NBA debut yet (Haluska). In exchange, the Hornets receive a pair of veterans who can both score and both have playoff experience.

In fact, Bonzi Wells’ last post season (2005-2006) with Sacramento was an astounding display. Despite the Kings first round loss to San Antonio Wells led Sacramento in scoring (23.2 ppg), rebounding (12.0), shooting (.609), and 3pt pct (.625). he was unstoppable. His career playoff average is 13.2 ppg). Mike James has his own precious rock after a mid-season deal to Detroit netted him a 2004 championship ring. He also left a lasting impression on the Hornets two seasons ago when (with Toronto) he nailed 7 three pointers and poured in 36 points during a stretch of four straight 30+ point games.

So every team considered a major player in the most competitive conference in NBA history made at least one significant move before the horse trading deadline.

Now that the dealing deadline has come and gone who are the winners and who are the losers? Who has fools gold and who has struck gold? Is Gasol like Wyatt Earp arriving in Dodge City to bring calm to the city of angels? Is Shaq like a member of the Pinkertons, ready to break up the powerful unions across the conference? Is Korver the perfect dead-eye shooter for a long playoff run or will his team meet the same fate as all famous gunslingers? Are Mike and Bonzi to be referred to as “The James Gang” when they perform off the bench?

While too early to vote on winners and losers one thing is certain, the wild, wild western conference will be a shootout to the end.